listening, listing, remembering... a bit of pleasure
a song in your heart, politesse, a short story from the archives
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Hi Hi-
Oh how I love small days! Iâm giving you two versions of this song, because, why not?
I donât have to go to bed
Iâve got a small day tomorrow
Small day tomorrow
I donât have to use my head
Iâve got a small day tomorrow
THIS! I donât know what it is, but I adore a solid call to action advice column. I love nodding my head in agreement. MmmHmm, I say to most of these 125 Rules for the Modern Gentleman! ⊠of course I donât agree with all of them, but these:
Everyone loves receiving flowersâif you have a favorite flower, send a small number of stems. If not, you canât go wrong with a few calla lilies
Feeling stuck? A bottle of good olive oil is the move. (Brightland and Graza are my fav olive oils to gift.)
Greet people you know with a single kiss on the left cheek.
If youâre the only guy in an otherwise all-women Pilates class, chill out with the grunting.
Do not carry all of your earthly possessions in your pockets. Your wallet and keys should not be visible or audible in your pants.
One night a week, pick a restaurant and take yourself out to a solo dinner at the bar. You get to avoid Resy hell and meet people doing the same.
Here in Collioure, I was lucky to sit in on a master class given by my friend, Cheryl Strayed.
Among many wonderful and insightful things Cheryl touched on, one that really hit home for me was revelations in our writing. By which she meant what the characters, or youâthe readerâcome to understand in the course of the story. The revelation (or moment of being per Virginia Woolf ) can be true, it can be false, but itâs something which the character believes whole heartedly.
Cherylâs talk put me in mind of this beautiful story, published in 1922 just after WWI when our national relationship with death was greatly enlarged, changed. When I first read this story as a young woman, its complications made me fall in love with literature. Lauraâs expansive and naive and conflicted insight about class and death at the storyâs close deeply moved me. Iâve just reread the story and itâs complicated. So much class privilege and such a blind eye, plus the notion that after oneâs first meeting with death, there is no otherâŠ
If you read, letâs talk! Iâd love to know what you think. And, what story did you read as a young person that made you fall in love with literature?
Not Stanley!
Thanks for reading. I hope your day is filled with delight!
If you missed the last few jewels⊠no fear! Here they are: cookies. melon salad.
a novel. dance. poem. cake. friendship. school shopping. drawing. coffee cups. copying art. spices. beans.
To stay in the loop:
Tell your people you love them, and take care of your skin!
Ohhh, this lands. At the end, the part about ârevelations in our writing⊠the moment of beingâ crystallized something Iâve been fumbling toward on my own blog about French culture and language. Most of what I post are tiny âAix-plosionsâ of understandingâsome true, some hilariously not, but always sincerely believed in the moment. Your framing gives me a way to be more intentional. Iâm going to start building each piece around a revelation.
Love all of this!